Authors (including presenting author) :
Li W M, Wong S W A
Affiliation :
Occupational Therapy Department, YAN CHAI HOSPITAL
Introduction :
Occupational therapist is required to have timely and accurate clinical judgement when serving patients from Accident & Emergency (A&E) unit. Junior therapist’s (< 3 years) clinical experience may hinder the competence in this specialty. Compilation of the “Occupational Therapy - A&E Splinting Quick Guide”, in mobile device digital format, could serve as a structured quick reference to the therapist in terms of clinical reasoning, judgement, splint fabrication and proper pathomechanics education to patients and carers.
Objectives :
(1) To provide quick reference for junior Occupational Therapist (clinical experience less than 3 years) in managing patient from A&E unit
(2) To enhance clinical competence
(3) To facilitate timely and accurate intervention for patients from A&E unit (4) To ensure efficiency and quality of service in A&E specialty
Methodology :
A survey among Occupational Therapists in Occupational Therapy Department, YAN CHAI HOSPITAL was conducted on 07-09-2017. The survey aimed at identifying the possible factors that hindering therapists’ competence in A&E service. The “Occupational Therapy - A&E Splinting Quick Guide” was therefore complied as based on the identified needs. A briefing session about the guide was implemented before the clinical use. Post-evaluation was done with occupational therapists on 20-11-2018. Outcome measures were catagorized as (1) knowledge provision, (2) efficiency enhancement, (3) relevance & applicability.
Result & Outcome :
Total numbers of clinician of the Occupational Therapy Department were 14. Most of them returned the initial survey (n=13), 7 of them had less than 3 years clinical experience as occupational therapists. The average year of experience in A&E service was less than 0.5. When providing intervention to patients from A&E unit, these 7 therapists expressed that they had most problem in splint design and fabrication (mean = 2.43 out of 5); second insufficiency was decision making (mean = 2.71 out of 5); and thirdly were related anatomy, clinical reasoning, problem solving and splint regime (mean = 2.86 out of 5). By using the “Occupational Therapy - A&E Splinting Quick Guide” for more than half year, evaluation was done on November 2018. Most of the users found the guide was relevant to the clinical need (mean = 4.83 out of 5). They also found it helped in improving the efficiency as in terms of speeding-up the intervention and clinical judgement (mean = 4.75 out of 5). Respondents reflected the quick guide could provide sufficient knowledge – anatomy and pathomechanics; and with high applicability in the clinical service (mean = 4.67 out of 5).
Co-location with:
